ZFE: “The general interest cannot be conceived from above”

The ecological question, as demonstrated by the debate on low emission zones (LEZs), territories in which the circulation of certain vehicles can be restricted in order to reduce air pollution, is characteristic of an instrumentalization of science which sidesteps democratic debate by opposing on one side those concerned about public health and the climate, and on the other the populists. The statistics on air quality are clear, however: it has been constantly improving for thirty years, with concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NO _x ) and fine particles linked to car traffic divided by six .

As a result, by the end of 2023, only two urban areas, Lyon and Paris, are required to deploy ZFEs. The Public Health France study on the impact of particulate matter, widely used to justify ZFEs, estimates an average value of 40,000 premature deaths using a model. It never mentions cars, and for good reason: they are only responsible for 5% of particulate matter.

Blaming cars for 40,000 deaths from particulate matter is a scientific untruth, which the media, NGOs, and politicians are using, sometimes in good faith. This quantification has been criticized by epidemiologists who believe that "the study overestimated the risk with extreme assumptions." Air quality is improving less quickly in Lyon, which has implemented the most stringent ZFE in France, than in the country as a whole.

If there is one public policy that has achieved results in terms of air quality, it is that of the European Union on motorization, with, since 1992, a sixfold reduction in admissible _NOx emissions, and a thirtyfold reduction in particulate matter. It is obvious that road traffic is not good for health, just like the stale air in metro stations, but we do not have statistics on its health impacts. On this subject, we are witnessing the instrumentalization of studies to justify the public policy of ZFE, which raises serious social questions.

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